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The atmospheric pollution is a growing public health problem. The highly urbanized regions such as Paris area seem particularly exposed. However, the overall health impact is poorly documented.To investigate the influence of air quality degradation on the demand for primary care.Site: medical dispatching center SAMU 93-Center 15. Related population: 1.6 million inhabitants.daily number of medical regulation records (DRM) and daily air quality index (AQI) using the AirparifThe analysis covered 1134 consecutive days and a total of 639,576 DRM. Average daily DRM number: 564 (507-643). IQA≥4 for 56 (5%) days and≥5 for 4 (0.4%) days. The number of DRM was very closely correlated with the IQA (RDegradation of air quality was significantly correlated with demand for primary care. The environmental alert is also a health alert. The impact was major (DRM +30%) considering all pathologies, all the pollutants on a departmental scale.

The concept of "Chest Pain Unit" was born in the United States in the 1980s. The interest of the transposition, in France, of this American concept is not obvious. Radical difference in cardiovascular risk factors, coronary heart disease prevalence and in emergency care organization are the first limits. The medico-economic analysis of "Chest Pain Unit" does not seem to be favorable. The only published French experience provides no convincing arguments. In consequence, in the French system, early call to the SAMU-Centre 15, prehospital medical management and direct access to the cath lab or cardiologic ICU must remain the rule. This strategy is associated with time saved and reduced morbidity and mortality. To educate the patient at vascular (cardiologic and neurologic) risk in this sense should be encouraged.

Relation between air travel and thromboembolic events is clearly demonstrated. The risk increases for travel of more than 5,000 km. Women are suspected to have an increased risk. However, the role of other potential thromboembolic risk factors remains unknown. The role of hypoxia and hypobaria, of the class traveled and of usual thromboembolic risk factors are unclear. Then, prophylactic strategy has to be decided regarding risk related to both travel and patient. Compartmental prophylactic therapy is largely indicated. Elastic stocking is widely recommended. Pharmacologic prophylactic therapy should be rarely indicated and discussed case by case.

Medical problems during flight have become an important issue as the number of passengers and of miles flown continue to rise. Cabin pressurization causes hypoxia, hypobaria and decreased humidity, which are responsible for most medical incidents occurring during flight. Worldwide daily medical incidents are estimated at 350, i.e., one per 14,000 to 39,600 passengers. Medical advice is obtained in 69% of cases, from physicians (40%), nurses (25%), or paramedics (4%) on board the plane. The leading causes of medical incidents are gastrointestinal (25%), cardiac (10%), and neurological (10%) diseases. The incidence of cardiac arrest in flight is 1000 cases a year, worldwide. Since 1992, airlines have progressively equipped their planes with automated external defibrillators, and crew members are trained to use them. Passenger flights carry medical equipment and drugs, determined according to number of passengers and the flight distance. The conditions of intervention are codified: "good Samaritan" laws protect professionals from liability when they choose to aid others who are injured or ill. Current recommendations call for physicians to identify themselves, request an interpreter when necessary, obtain the patient's consent, conduct out examination, inform the patient, family members and crew members of the situation, contact ground medical staff, use well-known procedures, consider flight diversion, and write up a case report.

The communication and circulation of medical information between hospitals and GPs play a central role in the quality of care. Numerous statutes, regulations, and clinical practice guidelines stress the need for such communication. We assessed how it really works.We conducted face-to-face interviews based on a standardized questionnaire with 50 GPs in the districts of Paris and Seine-Saint-Denis, to explore different aspects of their communication with hospitals: the communication channels, and the amount, content, and quality of the information received.It appears that the overall quantity of communication is satisfactory but its quality and content vary according to the reasons for which the GP sent the patient to the hospital. GPs have a deep feeling that hospital staff physicians do not collaborate with them.The proposed personal medical file may help resolve logistic obstacles to the circulation of medical information but it will not bridge the cultural gap that exists between the two pillars of the system of care: the hospital and the GP.

The aim of this study was to determine, a posteriori, the parameters detecting an event in a French medical emergency dispatching centre (SAMU).Six parameters were retained: total number of medical requests received by the Samu 93-centre 15: the number of decisions to send a mobile intensive care unit (MICU), number of decisions to send a non-medical unit, number of decisions to send a general practitioner and number of deaths observed by the physicians of the MICU. For each parameter, a daily referential was established over the five previous years (1998 to 2002) and compared with the results of August 2003The number of decisions to send a non-medical unit and the number of decisions to send a general practitioner were unchanged. The number of deaths on the 8th of August observed by the MICU physician should have led to an alert being given: 5.0 deaths for a referential of 1.7 (+ 194%). The number of decisions to send an MICU on the 7th of August should have led to an alert being given: 41 interventions for a referential of 25 (+64%). The number of medical interventions on the 6th of August should have led to an alert being given: 351 interventions for a referential of 299 (+17%).The total number of medical interventions treated by the SAMU 93-centre 15 is a the most sensitive and earliest marker of a sanitary event, such as that observed in August 2003 with the heat wave.

The risk of thromboembolic events related to travel is not exclusively due to air travel. We report the case of a patient who presented pulmonary embolism after prolonged train travel.An 82 Year-old patient had a significant past history of ischemic heart disease. He traveled by train, in a sitting position, for around 12 hours from Barcelona (Spain) to Paris (France). Approximately 24 hours after the journey, he presented pain in the right leg and dyspnea, which increased during the following 48 hours. Ultrasonographic cardiac examination revealed pulmonary arterial hypertension (54mm Hg), acute right ventricular failure and showed a thrombus located in the pulmonary artery, confirming the diagnosis of pulmonary embolism. Ultrasonography diagnosed deep venous thrombosis of the right leg. Treatment with heparin and oral anticoagulant was initiated. Evolution was favorable and the patient was discharged home 14 days later. No further medical event occurred during the Year that followed.The mechanisms that precede the development of a venous thrombosis are not specific to the method of transport. Blood vessel wall lesions, venous stasis and blood clotting component abnormalities, principle elements in the development of thrombosis according to Virchow's triad, are enhanced by prolonged sitting position, during travel, whether in planes or not. The role of other risk factors, personal or depending on the condition of travel, remains unknown. Simple prophylactic measures should be widely proposed during long travel, whatever the mode of transport.The development of a venous thrombosis, enhanced by prolonged sitting position, can occur whatever the form of travel. Prophylactic measures should be widely prescribed for prolonged travel, taking in consideration personal thromboembolic risk factors and circumstances of travel.